FINLAND (News release) -- The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a Euro 150 million loan agreement with Finnish renewable materials company Stora Enso. The financing will support the conversion of a former pulp and paper mill in the Finnish city of Oulu, from production of wood-free coated printing paper, into packaging board manufacturing mainly for the food and beverage sector.
The financing also covers upgrades in the pulp mill to produce unbleached brown pulp used for the production of packaging board. This conversion comes with significant changes and improvements to the treatment of malodorous gases and wastewater, further enhancing the environmental performance of the mill. The project will also produce renewable energy. The renewable energy generated in the mill aims to increase plant's overall self-sufficiency from the current 66% to 88%, thus substituting fossil-based energy, contributing to net emissions reductions of 42.8 kT CO2e/year.
The reason for this modernisation is to deliver effective and sustainable solutions for combatting global problems such as plastic waste, by substituting fossil-based materials (plastics) with renewable, recyclable and compostable materials in packaging and consumer goods manufacturing. Market studies indicate that renewable wood-fibres are about 65% less emissions intensive than plastics.
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